Special Runs and Rarities at Tuesday Morning

I finally got to see both Garrett and Santana “in the wild” – and I liked the Santana more than I thought I would, but not quite enough to pull out the wallet.

I was more tempted by the “New Beginnings” Appaloosa Classics Set, but I think I can wait on that: it has a 700 series Special Run number, which means it’s probably not a TSC exclusive and will be a little easier to acquire down the road, if need be.

I did a lot of travel for work this week, so I managed to hit a couple of Tuesday Mornings, too. I bought the Pony Pouches, but I managed to resist the Smokin Doubledutch. I didn’t see any of the AQHA Horses, though if the weather is less-than-ideal for flea marketing on Sunday, I might head back to see if I can snag one of those Black ones that have reportedly been turning up in their next sale assortment. Especially if they’re only $19.99!

(The promo pic is from their sales flier on their web site at http://www.tuesdaymorning.com/)

This is not the first time that Reeves has unloaded scarce items at Tuesday Morning: some of the 2001 BreyerFest SR Classic Racehorse sets – the one that included a Palomino Kelso, Buckskin Man o’ War, and the Fleabitten/Roan Silky Sullivan – turned up there. As did the Toys R Us Special Run Pacer “Horse of a Different Color” and Five-Gaiter “Valiant”.

They made a ton of the Racehorse set, and they had a ton of them left when that BreyerFest was over. There were so many, in fact, that the rumor that most of them ended up as regrind became accepted knowledge – that I dismissed once I saw the sets at one of my local TMs. The Toys R Us SRs ended up there presumably due to some sort of contractual dispute.
 
Although they weren’t necessarily made specifically for them, the circumstances of their distribution makes these sets – and now presumably, the Black AQHA horses – de facto Tuesday Morning Special Runs.

Actually, I sort of figured that this was how the AQHA scenario was going to play out. Since the Black pieces didn’t come out until the end of the year, when most retailers still had a bunch of Bays and Chestnuts on their shelves, a big chunk of the stock containing the Black pieces never escaped the warehouse.

That doesn’t necessarily mean that the market is now going to be saturated with them; the aftermarket prices will drop somewhat as completists fill that gaping hole in their AQHA lineups, but the Black will still be the rarest of the six official retail releases of that run (excluding the Gloss online promotional pieces, of course!)

What it does mean is that the AQHA pieces in the assortments dropping next week will likely have a higher percentage of Blacks than the full-price retailers did, and shoppers will have a slightly better chance to acquire one than they did before.

Which is also why I’m seriously mulling over a return visit on Sunday.